Small Space Living — One Room, Two Functions

Remember the bunk bed fort post I shared last week? Did you wonder what happened to the bottom bunk? It (and little sister) have a new home in a newly created bedroom. Today I’m sharing a small space living tip — how to find room for an extra bedroom when you don’t think you have the space!

Small Space Living — Bedroom

Until this summer, my youngest girls shared a room. At times it was delightful, but most often they drove me (and sometimes each other) crazy! When one was motivated to keep the room clean, the other threw everything on the floor. When one was ready to sleep, the other wanted to chat all night. A few days before school ended for the summer, I decided it had to stop.

We have a long narrow room that we use as a playroom. We cleaned out half of it and dragged in the bottom bunk. (You would not believe what was under there! It took a good half an hour for the girls to get all of the stuff taken care of. We did find a lot of missing clothes and toys, though!)

I’m so glad I did this. Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention. Now I’m kicking myself for not making this change earlier. Here’s the playroom before:

This is what the room looked like after got rid of most of the toys a couple of years ago. (Another great moment in motherhood.) In front of the girls (on the walls you can’t see) is a bulletin board and dry erase board (one on each wall). It’s a fun area to play school. Here it is today.

We removed the play kitchen (no one was really playing with it anymore), and used the shelving unit to create a divider between Lu’s bedroom and the playroom. The older girls took most of their Legos to their own rooms, which gave us a lot more space. All that’s left is what fits in the crates and the school play area (which you can’t see). I make sure that the kids clean up toys every night so that there is always a clear path for Lu to get out of the room in an emergency. You can read about Lu’s hand-painted dresser here.

Here’s what we added to Lu’s room to make use of the small space.

A removable hook to hang her bathrobe or towel.

A simple touch light above her bed to give her light for reading or late night trips to the bathroom (the light switch is on the other side of the room).

A picture hanging strip to show off her artwork (tutorial coming soon).

Under the bed storage bins to hold loose items. (To keep from revisiting the garbage dump that was under her bed before, nothing is allowed under the bed unless it is in a bin.)

Small basket for laundry (not pictured)

Lap desk (under her bed)

A storage closet in the room next door holds her hanging clothes.

We all absolutely love this change! The more simple the playroom becomes, the better the girls take care of it. During the day, they play in the playroom. At night, it becomes Lu’s domain.

And, no. The top of the toy unit is never cleaned off. I only cleaned it off for the picture. It makes the perfect home for Lu’s legos.

What do you think? What essentials would you include in a tiny bedroom?

Thanks for stopping by. While you’re here, check out some more ideas by clicking on the images below.

This is absolutely adorable, Heidi! Living in an apartment, I just love finding tips on how to utilize a small room and create space, let alone save space! I think dividing the room up with a functional piece is very smart.

I’m going to be looking through all of your organizing tips & ideas as well! Thanks for sharing such great resources!